For Alaska's Joe Miller, handcuff incident adds to mounting troubles

• Most infamously, a longtime local journalist who tried to question Miller about the ethics breaches was handcuffed by Miller campaign security guards. Anchorage law enforcement said Monday that no charges would be filed against the journalist or the guards.

It has shocked a state where the population is small, politics is extremely local, and citizens are accustomed to having unfettered access to their elected leaders.

A journalist in handcuffs: the fallout

Miller points to the confrontation as a sign that he is standing up to liberals and the mainstream media – a strategy that could win him support among his loyal core of support.

“My basic feeling is people who like Joe would say it’s just fine. People who don’t would say it’s another example of how he’s too extreme. The question is: How will it affect people in the middle?” says Dave Dittman, a conservative pollster and political consultant.